Policy

Diana Johnson follows up on points raised in the Contaminated Blood debate

Written by Aaron Dennis, November 29, 2016

Following last week’s debate in the House of Commons on Contaminated Blood support, Diana Johnson has written to the Minister Lord Prior to follow up on the points raised.

Her letter touches on seven points in particular. She asks for further detail on the proposals for the new scheme administrators and reiterates opposition to a profit-making private firm running the new scheme.

She has asked for more information on the evidence that will be needed to show a causal link between a beneficiary’s infection and their death. However, ideally she asks that this should not be factor in entitlement for these payments.

In the debate the Minister stated that ‘the aim of the support scheme is that no one will be worse off’. Diana has asked for a guarantee that no one will be worse off under the new scheme.

If there is underspend in any year of the five-year period this should be carried over to the following year. The letter asks what will happen at the end of the five-year period and how money spent this will be tracked transparently by government.

Additionally, the letter raises the situation of people infected with over viruses, passporting to DWP benefits, the money from the sale of the Government’s stake in Plasma Resources UK and the Haemophilia Society’s analysis of the support budget.